Where Is The Cheapest Place To Buy Groceries?

(This is NOT a sponsored post – it’s just purely my findings and opinions.)

Groceries. A necessity, but it can be an expensive one at that!

I used to be a huge couponer. And yes, that is a word, even if I made it up. When it was just my husband and I, before Mazy was born, I feel like our grocery bills were pretty low. Then we moved to Minnesota, where we also had Mazy, and we realized most vegetables and fruit come from a long distance away (or so it seemed), which made them a bit more expensive. Our grocery bill almost TRIPLED because I was used to shopping at Aldi and the produce being cheaper. It was quite an eye opener, so a year into our move, when I heard an Aldi was coming to town, I was beyond thrilled. And so was our bank account.

With that said, I wondered if it “really” made that big of a difference? When I was a couponer, I would go from store to store, finding the best deals on everything. Though really, I wasn’t always sure what a “good deal” was on something. Now having a 3 year old, I like to only go to one place or at the max, two. That means I always go to Aldi, but if they do not have something, I will quickly run to Meijer after. The thing is, I actually plan our meals around the food that I can get from Aldi (most of the time). Call me weird, but I find that is the best way to manage my time and money. Sometimes when I get into those bigger stores, the lure and temptation to buy more than what’s on my list is greater. Maybe it’s my lack of self-control, but I’m a sucker for clearance items and Meijer often has a plethora of them. But let’s be honest, clearance items are often things I also do not need.

So why am I so addicted to Aldi? The ease of shopping and price of their products. I do admit, they don’t have everything. They always ask if I found everything I am looking for, and to be honest, I usually say yes because it’s true. Granted it helps that I plan my meals around what they have, but they have “most” things that I’m looking for. If they do not have something I need, I try to go to the “larger” grocery stores every other week if I can help it. Though I fully admit, I LOVE Meijer. I love their unique items and friendly service. And their produce is FANTASTIC. I used to shop at Walmart when we lived in Minnesota, every single week, but now that Meijer is closer, I just head there.

Well, with ALL of that said, I have always wondered the cost difference between the stores. What grocery store is cheaper? So, I decided to finally, after 12 years of marriage, figure out what the difference really is. I will add:

Some of the items from Walmart and Meijer were on sale when I looked up their prices online.

I was not on any home delivery website so these are the true costs of the product.

I basically stuck to the Great Value (Walmart) and Meijer brand items because they were the cheapest. Maybe for some items, there is a cheaper option – I just didn’t find it.

This is taken from my grocery bill last week at aldi. This does not include any toiletry items, only because we did not need them at the time. This is just STRICTLY a grocery list!

So here’s what I found:
– The only items that were cheaper at either Walmart or Meijer were: long grain & wild rice, cranberry cocktail, honey wheat bread (by one cent), artichokes, onion powder, fruit squeezies, and goldfish (some of these items were on sale at Meijer), but that was only 7 out of 39 items.

Aldi was cheaper than Meijer by $18.59 and cheaper than Walmart by $7.02.

Here’s the breakdown:

Food Item

Aldi

Walmart

Meijer

Large eggs

.44

1.18

1.99

1% Gallon of Milk

1.86

2.23

2.29

Sour Cream

.89

1.00

1.00

Butter Quarters

2.29

2.56

2.56

100 Cal Greek Yogurt

.65

.66

.89

Iceberg Lettuce

.95

.98

.98

Roma Tomatoes

1.19

1.75

1.90

Bananas

.42

.44

.45

Mini Sweet Peppers

2.59

2.78

3.49

Spaghetti

1.39

1.64

1.58

Cranberry Cocktail

1.79

1.84

1.49

English Muffins

.99

1.18

2.99

Honey Wheat Bread

.99

.98

1.59

Juice Pouches

1.99

2.22

2.00

Parmesan Cheese

2.29

2.36

2.99

Dill Pickles

1.29

1.96

2.99

Long Grain & Wild Rice

1.29

.92

1.00

Large Pitted Olives

1.19

1.23

1.49

Spanish Olives

1.19

1.98

1.69

Marshmallow & Stars Cereal

1.39

2.98

2.50

Rice Chex

1.79

1.84

2.29

Artichokes

2.79

1.98

2.25

Cream of Mushroom Soup

.49

.50

.59

Wings Sauce

1.79

1.98

2.99

Moscato Wine

2.89

2.96

4.00

Onion Powder

1.19

.98

1.00

Chewy Dipped Granola Bars

1.39 (6)

1.27 (5)

1.99 (6)

Mini Chocolate Chips

1.69

1.74

1.67

Chocolate Chips

1.29

1.74

1.67

Tortilla Chips

.89

.92

1.99

Salsa Con Queso

1.89

1.98

2.50

Colby Jack Block

1.69

1.74

1.99

Mustard (20 oz.)

.55

.58 (14 oz.)

.99 (14 oz.)

Peanut Butter Crackers

.89

1.00

1.09

Cheese Crackers

1.49

1.53

2.00

Fruit Squeezies

1.69

1.66

1.99

Goldfish

1.78

1.78

1.50

M&Ms

2.95

2.98

3.29

TOTAL:

55.01

62.03

73.60

Were you surprised? Where do you most often shop? And WHY do you shop there? There is no right or wrong place to shop. TRULY. I do NOT want you to think that this is the answer – it’s purely just showing where the cheapest place is, if that is important to you. But many others have many reasons as to why they shop where they do. Time and convenience so that they can spend their time on other precious things. You know what I mean.

Like I said, I have always wanted to do this, and so I hope this is helpful to you too. Let me know what you think!

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As a Christ-follower, wife, stay at home mom, blogger, author, and advanced heart failure patient, my desire is to encourage others in those same roles, through honest and real conversation. May you be inspired to embrace YOUR story of God’s grace in your own life, through simple, grace-filled living.

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